1. Field of Invention
This application is entitled to priority pursuant to a provisional application filed Mar. 16, 1999 entitled METHOD AND DEVICE IMPLEMENTING A SEAMLESS USER/SERVICE RESERVATION NETWORK.
In general, this invention relates to a seamless reservation network and more specifically, to a seamless user/service reservation network enabling multiple user interfaces to concurrently access multiple vendor reservation systems running different software reservation platforms.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, the prior art discloses networked systems which provide a user access to golf tee times reservation software. For each of these prior art systems, a user must adopt and implement the specific communication and information protocols defined by each system. Additionally, each individual vendor golf course must purchase and implement the software prepared by the golf reservation network provider. Accordingly, if a golf course implements a reservation software platform different from the software utilized by the network, the prior art reservation network cannot include that particular golf course on the network because of the incompatibility of software. Additionally, because golf courses will typically run only one software reservation system per course, the prior art reservation systems suffer the drawback that they are limited solely to the specific golf courses that choose to run their specific software.
Currently, there are several golf tee time resellers, such as travel agencies, that desire to have the capability to meet customer demand by allowing a customer access to all or a majority of the golf tee time reservation networks. To accomplish this goal, these travel agencies must implement and be proficient in each of the plurality of different prior art reservation software systems currently available. For example, if there are currently 13 different tee time or other reservation systems available on the market, a travel agency wishing to have access to all the golf courses located on each system would need to purchase and become proficient in the specific transactional language and function protocol of each of the 13 individual reservation systems. Thus, if a client wished to book multiple tee times on different golf courses found of different reservation networks, the travel agency would have to establish a communication link to each separate golf course network using the particular software provided by the network and base all transactions on the specific protocols implemented by each system. Although each transaction may be functionally the same, i.e., reserving a tee time, the travel agency has to manually translate each transaction separately into the specific format supported by the particular network. Accordingly, based on the prior art systems, the only manner in which a travel agency may provide clients with the opportunity to reserve various tee times on separate reservation networks is for the agency to serve as both a translational and a communication hub.
Because of consumer demand, travel agencies have adopted the inefficient reservation method of running multiple software reservation options. However, as applied to the individual user wishing to make reservations on multiple golf course reservations, the limitations of the prior art are more extensive. It would be highly impractical for the individual user to have the system resources and training necessary to access a plurality of different software reservation platforms. Thus, the end user is typically limited to participating in at most one golf tee time reservation network only.
Some non-related industry prior art reservation systems allow a user, such as a travel agency, to communicate with multiple individual reservation systems. One such system, the THISCO System, is utilized in conjunction with additional software to reserve hotel rooms which are controlled by various reservation networks. To process a request on the THISCO system, a user must interface with its own nonstandard communications and interfacing software to a central switch provided by the THISCO System which, in turn, communicates to the individual hotel reservation networks.
Because of its fundamental structure, the THISCO system can only process a single transaction per each communication. Accordingly, a user wishing to reserve multiple hotel rooms or to inquire about multiple hotel room availability must do so as separate, independent transactions. Although the THISCO system can establish a communication link with different network reservation systems, transactions to different systems cannot be processed concurrently, forcing the travel agency to engage the system multiple times and redo the entire reservation process each time. This multiple engagement becomes inefficient, especially in a situation in which a user must inquire on the availability of several potential reservation options and perform a reservation transaction on one or more of the systems. Additionally, because the THISCO system offers no user interface, each potential user must endure the construction and cost of a compatible interface. While some travel agencies endure such a cost as a result of market demand, individual users would not have the same capacity.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a seamless user/service reservation system which incorporates the transactions necessary to book a golf tee time reservation, can accommodate multiple user inputs designed for the target user, can accommodate a communication protocol such that the system can communicate with any vendor reservation network or individual vendor reservation software platform, and can facilitate the concurrent processing of a plurality of requests to different software platforms.